So, I’ve been messing around with this Rolex GMT-Master II, the one they call “Root Beer.” It’s a pretty cool watch, I gotta say. I wanted to see if I could make a really good copy of it, you know, like those high-end fakes you hear about.
First off, I got my hands on a real one. Needed to see what I was up against. The real deal is a two-tone watch, kinda gives off that 1970s vibe, which is neat. It’s got this second time zone thing, which is handy if you travel a lot, I guess. It’s also a “COSC-certified” thing, which means it’s super accurate. Fancy stuff.
Getting Started
- I started by taking the watch apart. Carefully, of course. Didn’t want to break anything. Took a bunch of pictures along the way so I’d remember how to put it back together.
- Then, I started looking for parts. This was a pain. I needed stuff that looked exactly like the real Rolex parts. Spent hours online, searching through forums and those sketchy-looking websites.
- Found some decent parts, but they weren’t perfect. Had to do a lot of tweaking. Filed some down, polished others. It was a lot of detailed work.
The Tricky Bits
The bezel, man, that was the hardest part. The Root Beer one has this two-color ceramic insert, brown and black. Getting that right was tough. I tried a few different methods, even messed around with some 3D printing, but it wasn’t quite right.
The movement was another headache. I ended up using a clone movement, one of those Chinese ones. It’s not as good as the real Rolex movement, but it does the job. Had to make some adjustments to get it to fit properly, though.
Putting It All Together
After weeks of work, I finally had all the pieces ready. Assembling it was like putting together a really complicated puzzle. Everything had to fit perfectly, or it wouldn’t work right. There were a few times when I thought I’d screwed it up completely, but I kept at it.
The Final Result
In the end, I managed to make a pretty decent copy. It’s not perfect, a real watch expert could probably spot the differences, but to the average person, it looks just like a real Rolex GMT-Master II Root Beer. It even keeps time pretty well!
It was a fun project, but a lot more work than I expected. Would I do it again? Maybe. It’s satisfying to create something like this with your own hands. But it’s definitely not easy!
I saw online there’s also a similar one called the “Seacolt GMT Collection” , which has 5 color options and looks like the Rolex GMT-Master II. Maybe I will also try to copy that one later. That should be interesting.
Click to consult